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How Professor Bradford Parkinson and his team developed GPS: the Global Positioning System.

The digital world only works if it is connected. In the early 1970s, Professor Bradford Parkinson was working with the United States Air Force as an engineer leading the team that developed the Global Positioning System, or GPS, which uses satellites to pinpoint users wherever they are. Sixteen-year-old Malak from Israel finds out from Professor Parkinson how it all came about, and why he still uses maps to sail by.

Producer: Tamsin Barber.

World Wise Web is a co-production between Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service and Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Rewind.
Music composed by Nick Thorburn

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10 minutes

Last on

Mon 3 Feb 2020 04:50GMT
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Two handheld GPS devices (Credit:Β George Wilhelm/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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  • Mon 3 Feb 2020 04:50GMT
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Podcast

  • World Wise Web

    Teenagers talk to technology pioneers who have shaped their lives